


Truth Hurts

by WandaHart



Series: Indiana Boys [3]
Category: Guns N' Roses
Genre: Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Izzy is a good boyfriend, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:28:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22079947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WandaHart/pseuds/WandaHart
Summary: Wrapped up in Izzy’s arms, Bill felt safe. He didn’t want to ever let go. He didn’t want to venture back into the minefield that was his family life. Still, it had to be done.
Relationships: Axl Rose/Izzy Stradlin
Series: Indiana Boys [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582195
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Truth Hurts

**Author's Note:**

> Heya! This piece ended up being kind of a bummer of a read but I hope everyone enjoys. Thanks as always for checking it out! Feel free to let me know what you think!

Bill pulled at his hair in desperation hoping that the pain would distract him from the shouting echoing up from the downstairs of his house. His parents were arguing about god-knows-what. It had been going on for hours and Bill was starting to get frustrated yet again with all the racket. Rubbing his temples, he paced his tiny bedroom. 

He jumped as his door opened suddenly. Bill turned quickly and was met with the pale frightened face of his younger brother Stuart. Lowering his hands, Bill sighed and motioned his brother towards him.

Stuart quickly clambered up onto Bill’s bed and hid his face in his brother’s shoulder. He mumbled something unintelligible into Bill’s shirt and Bill didn’t have to ask Stuart to repeat himself. He could pretty much guess what he was saying. _Please make it stop Bill. I’m scared._

He gently nudged Stuart away and got up to walk towards his door. Since Stuart had opened it, the yelling of his father had only become louder and clearer. Bill crept into the hallway and listened silently to his dad’s rampage in the kitchen. 

“God I can’t understand you! What the fuck do you do all day?”

Bill was about to make his way back to Stuart in his bedroom when he heard mother cry out.

“Stephen, stop! Your drunk… Stephen, stop! Your hurting me!”

Bill flinched as he heard the distinct sound of skin hitting skin. He imagined his father’s hand against his mother’s face and raced down the stairs. He imagined his mother’s face and her cowering in the corner of the kitchen. He had seen this scene to many too many times before. He didn’t think as he ran into the kitchen and interrupted his parent’s “argument”. His father and mother turned to him simultaneously with varying emotions displayed on their faces. His mother’s eyes were wide and filled with unshed tears. His father’s face was red, and he was breathing heavily.

“Don’t touch her,” Bill said, voice trembling with pent-up anger. “Don’t you ever fucking touch her.”

“Bill, you need to leave.”

“Get to your room now.”

His mother and father spoke at the same time and Bill’s head spun with anger, confusion, and hurt. Bill loved his mother, but he would never understand the way she brushed aside her husband’s abuse. Once, Bill might have thought she was trying to protect him. Nowadays, he knew that if was just because she wouldn’t risk angering Stephen for anything- not for herself, not for her children.

Stephen turned back to his wife and took a threatening step toward her. She took a step back, her body brushing against the wall.

“I said stay away from her!” Bill spat out, running towards his father. 

He continued to yell and curse as he started hitting his father with closed fists. His anger was blinding and hindered his ability to aim, but Bill could feel his fists hit skin and was pleased. He didn’t maintain the upper-hand for long though and his father was soon twisting his wrist painfully with one hand and smacking Bill in the face with the other. Bill was faintly aware of his mother crying and begging for his father to stop which only fueled Bill’s anger more.

“Get off of me!” Bill cried as his father landed a hard slap to his cheek that left his face burning with pain. That was sure to leave a mark.

Bill struggled out of his father’s arms and bolted towards the living room.

“You’re fucking crazy!” 

Bill yelped in pain as his father caught up to him and threw him to the floor. He barely had time to roll over onto his side before he took a heavy kick to the face. Tears of pain filled his eyes as the pain blossomed out from his jaw.

“Don’t dish out what you can’t take, Bill,” Stephen grunted out as he landed another kick into the boy. “That’s what your problem is. Stop crying!”

Bill tried to roll away from his father and get to his feet. _Just get to your feet. All you have to do is get to your feet._

Bill was only able to get to his knees before his father kicked him again, this time in the stomach. Bill doubled over, clutching his abdomen and gasping in pain. His father took this moment to begin taking off his belt with the intent to beat his son. Bill heard the familiar _clink_ of his father’s buckle and shot up to his feet. He knew this brief distraction was his only chance to get away from his father’s wrath and he sure as hell intended to use it. He ran down the front hall and unlocked the front door as fast as humanly possible. 

“Bill! You get your ass back here this second!” Bill opened the door and ran at the sounding approach of his father’s footsteps. “Bill!”

Bill didn’t look back as he sprinted down his driveway and through his neighbor’s yard. He didn’t look back as he ran down the sidewalk and out of his neighborhood. His legs ached and his lungs burned, but he was determined not to stop. He wasn’t even sure were he was going until he stood, stopped, at the bottom of Izzy’s front porch steps.

Bill took a moment to catch his breath and wipe away his tears before he approached the front door. It was still early enough in the evening for Izzy’s mom to be gone at work for which Bill was extremely thankful for. Bill sniffled and raised his hand to knock on the door. He briefly hesitated and even debated leaving but _where else would he go?_ He knocked on the door three times.

He waited impatiently for the door to open, desperate to see Izzy. Just moments after he knocked on the door for a second time, Izzy’s muffled voice came through the thick wooden door.

“For fuck’s sake, I’m coming!”

Izzy opened the door with a huff annoyance. He had been dozing off on the couch when the knocking had first occurred. He had considered ignoring it at first and just letting the sound of daytime television drown it out, but at the second knock he knew whoever was at the door wasn’t going to go away so easily. Of course, all this irritation evaporated the instant he saw Bill standing on his porch.

Bill lifted is head and attempted to smile at his boyfriend when he opened the door. Izzy didn’t return the smile though as he took in his boyfriend’s disheveled appearance. Bill had obviously been crying, something Izzy had never seen before. His red-rimmed, tear-filled eyes immediately made Izzy anxious. The next thing he noticed was the purplish-red bruise forming along the left side of his boyfriend’s jaw. Now he _knew_ something was wrong.

“What happened?” he blurted out, skipping over any greeting.

At his words, Bill’s confident front crumbled and the tears began to flow again. Bill opened his mouth in an attempt to speak but all that came out was a broken sob. Izzy quickly sprang into action, pulling Bill into the house and pulling the door shut behind them both in one swift movement. 

Izzy had to practically drag a hysterical Bill up to his bedroom. Sitting on him down on his bed, Izzy tried his best to comfort the boy. He had never really dealt with something of this nature before, so he just went with what he’d seen in movies and what felt natural. He rubbed what he hoped were soothing circles into Bill’s shaking back and repeated _shh Bill, it’s alright_ like a mantra.

After what felt like hours, Bill’s crying eventually reduced to sniffling and the occasional hiccup. Izzy really didn’t want to set Bill off again, but he did really need to know what had happened. Although Bill’s shocking emotional state clearly took precedent, Izzy couldn’t help but want to find whatever bastard did this to his boyfriend and give them the beating they deserved. Bill had gotten into fights at school before and had never reacted like this. Clearly, something was really wrong.  
“Bill, you have to me what happened. You have to say who did this,” Izzy’s words were firm but contained no anger. He stroked Bill’s copper hair gently. “You gotta talk to me babe.”

Wrapped up in Izzy’s arms, Bill felt safe. He didn’t want to ever let go. He didn’t want to venture back into the minefield that was his family life. Still, it had to be done. Izzy’s worry was evident in his voice.

Bill slowly pulled away from the comfort of his boyfriend and sat back. Once again, no words came out when Bill opened his mouth. He didn’t know how to say what had happened. He had never talked about this before. Not with anyone. No one knew about the true extent of Stephen Bailey’s reign of torment on his family. Part of him wanted to tell Izzy everything. To tell Izzy how his dad hurt him. To tell him how sick he felt when he had to go home after school. How he had dreamed of running away since he was six. But part of him wanted all the pain to remain a secret. As if speaking the truth aloud would make it somehow much more real. Izzy’s worry was so evident though and Bill knew he wouldn’t be able to keep this secret from him for forever.

“My dad,” Bill was finally able to whisper aloud before hiding his head back in Izzy’s chest. It wasn’t in shame but in fear of seeing Izzy’s reaction.

Though Bill was barely audible, his words hit Izzy like a freight train. Had he misheard? Bill’s own father had done this to him? Sure, Izzy was aware that Bill’s dad was a certified hardass, but this? Izzy was immediately filled with anger, not only towards Bill’s asshole of a father, but towards himself as well. How could he not have known?

He was shaken from these thoughts however as Bill pulled away from him once more. Bill wiped his sleeve across his nose before speaking again.

“My dad,” he repeated, quietly. “He was drunk. Again.” Bill twisted his fingers painfully. He took a deep breath and continued, gaining volume. “He was drunk and he was yelling at her- my mom. He’s always yelling. And he hit her, and I told him to stop and he got mad.” Now that Bill had started talking, he didn’t seem able to stop. The connection between his mouth brain seemed to have been severed. “It’s always like this.” Bill paused after that confession. The words seemed to hang in the air. He wondered if he could grab them and put them back deep inside his head. 

Izzy chewed at the inside of his cheek as he listened to Bill. He didn’t know what to do. How could he fix this? He wanted to cry when he couldn’t come up with an answer. 

_There’s nothing I can do._

“He’s going to be so mad I ran away, Iz. He’s going to kill me.” Bill’s voice was laced with fear as he thought about what he would face when he returned home.  
Izzy didn’t want to think about that. He didn’t want Bill to think about that. Wordlessly, he pulled back the covers on his bed and unlaced Bill’s ratty sneakers. Bill climbed under the sheets, exhausted. He lifted the corner of the sheet as an invitation for Izzy to join him.

Izzy wrapped his narrow frame around the smaller boy and entangled his legs with his. Bill drifted off to the sound of Izzy’s gentle voice whispering in his ear.

“We’re gonna figure this out. I promise. I’m going to figure this out.”


End file.
